April 8, 1869. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HOKTICDLTUEB AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



237 



to record simply my opinion, being, in fact, in the position of 

 the negro — " Ciivmi- and Pompoy very much like, specially 

 Pompey." 



Lucij Gr'u've. — One of the very brightest of the whole class. 

 It has not proved itself as yet to be very vigorous. I say as yet, 

 lor I am inclined to think that many of these plants do most 

 decidedly improve in habit with years. Mrs. Pollock was not 

 nearly so vigorous when it first came out as it is now, and 

 Lucy Grieve, I think, improves. 



Ladi/ CaUum. — A splendid variety, vigorous and bold. The 

 colour'is very bright and there is plenty of it. It does not, how- 

 ever, run in those even zones that we are bound to look for ; 

 still it is one of the most effective sorts in general cultivation. 



Counters of Craven (Perkins).— An improvement on Queen 

 Victoria of the same raisers. This variety has a peculiar soft- 

 ness and velvety appearance, which make it very attractive. 



r.ouisa Smith (F. & A. Smith). — A fine bold plant, with 

 perhaps not so much colour as might be wished, but very 

 vigorous, and good either as a pot plant or bodder. 



Soiihia CugacJc (E. G. Henderson & Co.). — A very eflective 

 variety. Colours of the leaves very bright. 



Sophia Duiiiaresquc (E. G. Henderson & Co.). — A plant in 

 the style of Sunset, and while a great improvement on it, is at 

 the same time very eflective out of doors. 



Star of India (KoUisson). — One of the very best we have. 

 It is another of the Sunset section. The foliage is very fiat, 

 and the colours in it very brilliant. It is a very good grower, 

 and the appearance of the plant is admirable. It is to my 

 mind far in advance of any in this flat-leaved section. 



Miss Watson (^Vatson). — A wonderfully overrated variety. 

 As yet I have seen nothing in it to merit the praises bestowed 

 on it. It is poor in growth, and its colours by no means so 

 bright as those of many others. 



L'Empcrciir (F. & A. Smith). — A very pretty-eoloured variety, 

 and of good habit of growth ; the markings somewhat in the 

 way of Sophia Dumaresque, which it considerably resembles. 



JPrincc of Wah's (F. & A. Smith). — A prettily-coloured plant, 

 but having in it nothing very remarkable. 



Qnccn Victoria (Perkins). — A good grower, and the foliage 

 pretty, but excelled by the Countess of Craven noticed above. 



There are many others in cultivation, I am aware, but these 

 have come more immediately under my notice, and I therefore 

 give my notes on them for what they are worth. There are 

 many coming out — Achievement (Turner), Moonstone (KoUis- 

 son), Jetty Lacy, Lord Derby, &c. (F. & A. Smith), which will 

 perhaps drive some of the above out, but they will bo high- 

 priced for a time. — D., Deal. 



SETTING GRAPES. 



Mn. Simpson's remarks in the Journal of March 25th are 

 well worth notice ; but your readers will not, perhaps, under- 

 stand whether, when he speaks of leaving the young shoots of 

 Vines untied till after the bloom has set, he means that the 

 rods should be left tied back — i.e., with the points downwards, 

 as they commonly are before starting, to make the sap rise 

 more evenly, or whether he refers only to the young shoots 

 being untied, the rods being placed in their proper bearing 

 positions. Tight tying might stop the proper flow of sap and 

 cause a bunch to set badly, but loose tying just to keep a shoot 

 away from the glass, and the excessive moisture which would 

 lodge upon the foliage, can hardly, one would imagine, be the 

 cause. 



Mr. Thomson, in his admirable " Treatise on the Vine," says, 

 page 39, that fire heat at night 75°, and 85° by day, with no 

 moisture given while they are in bloom, is the whole secret of 

 setting Muscats ; but if, as Mr. Simpson says, " bad setting 

 at any time is the result of weakness," the amount of heat is 

 not the only thing that has to do with it. The probability is, 

 that while several conditions are essential to make Muscats set 

 properly, one of them wanting will make the setting go all 

 wrong. 



I have been rather puzzled with three young Muscats of 

 Alexandria of my own this year. They are planted inside and 

 trained on the back wall of a lean-to, and this wall is flued and 

 in parts quite hot to the hand. Now, I notice that wherever 

 the bunch has touched the hot wall, the berries have uniformly 

 set well and grown rapidly, while the parts of the bunch that 

 project from the wall, though only 2 or 3 inches from it, have 

 set very indifferently. The upper shoulders of all the bunches 

 are good, but the tips of some and main stalks of others are 



more or less faulty. Now, in my case, I attribute this to giving 

 a little too much water before the Vines came into flower, for, 

 having been quite dust dry throuch the autumn, I gave them a 

 good soaking when started in January, and while they were 

 breaking. This excess of water caused them lo produce an 

 excess of sap, which exuded, as it often does, in globules all 

 over the young shoots and bunches. Now, whore the bunches 

 touched the hot wall I think this excessive sap was dried up, 

 at all events there was comparatively little to be seen, but the 

 other parts of the bunch were sparkling with globules, and 

 this plethoric state, I think, prevented the flowers from setting. 

 I do not think the temperature of the house was ever too low 

 or too damp, for all the other Grapes have set to a berry, and I 

 think the cause! have mentioned must bo the true one, but I 

 should like a better opinion upon it. I should mention that 

 the roof of the lean-to is covered with Vines which very much 

 shade the Muscats on the back wall, but curiously the bunches 

 near the bottom that are most shaded have set best, and the 

 finest and most vigorous-looking bunches (from, as I think, 

 their excess of sap), worst. I think, also, that age has some- 

 thing to do with it, for the Vines are quite young, only planted 

 two years, and as with the animal, so with the vegetable world, 

 very young and plethoric, or, I should say, sappy parents, are 

 not the sort to have vigorous offspring. 



Mr. Simpson concludes his remarks by saying that he would 

 be glad to know if others have observed that the untied shoots 

 set earlier and better than the tied ones. I can only say that 

 I seldom tie mine more than I can help, but I have looked over 

 them without being able to see any difference. Heat seems to 

 me the chief cause for one bunch setting earlier than another. 

 On my flued wall some bunches are nearly half grown, while 

 others on the same Vine are only just coming into flower. — 

 H. NicHOLLs, M.A., F.K.H.S. 



I THiNic the remedy prescribed by Mr. Simpson for bad- 

 setting Grapes is, so far as its influence extends, a very good 

 one. I have noticed the same thing myself, and I quite agree 

 with the system, because it is a very natural way of inducing 

 the Vine to set its own fruit, and if practised upon weakly- 

 growing Vines it is an excellent way of obtaining increased 

 strength in the shoots and bunches before passing through the 

 blooming stage. I am afraid, however, that it would not be 

 practicable in very many cases, at least not to the extent Mr. 

 Simpson states, unless the Vines were trained much farther 

 from the glass than is the case in most vineries, because the 

 tendency of the shoots to grow erect would bring the tender 

 foliage in contact with the glass long before the bunches came 

 into bloom ; there they would be exceedingly liable to irre- 

 parable injury from burning, and other calamities would follow, 

 rendering the perfection of the crop very doubtful. I do not 

 state the above for the purpose of discouraging any one who 

 may wish to try the experiment ; on the contrary, I state it 

 solely for the guidance of those who might adopt Mr. Simp- 

 son's plan without a thought as to consequences. 



My Vines are trained 16 inches from the glass, and I allow 

 the shoots to grow unfettered by tying until the bunches stand 

 out boldly from the joint ; by that time the foliage is quite as 

 near the glass as is desirable, and after being stopped the 

 shoot is pulled down a trifle. This operation is performed at 

 intervals, taking care that the shoot is not finally tied down to 

 the wires until after the fruit is swelling-off. By this practice 

 the bunches bloom and set their fruit at a considerable elevation 

 from the main rod. — Thojias Eecoed, Lillesden, RawhUurst. 



TUBULAR BOILERS. 



I do not pretend to the varied experience of your correspon- 

 dent in your paper dated March 25th, on the subject of boilers, 

 but as he condemns in such a wholesale manner all tubular 

 boilers, I think it is only fair to point out one that I find in 

 use both efficient and economical. 



One thing in connection with boilers and the heating of 

 houses is, I think, often lost sight of — viz., the labour and the 

 attention required, often calling the gardener from his work, 

 and necessitating night attendance, ko. Now the boiler I am 

 using I obtained from Mr. Marriott, of St. Neots ; he calls it 

 his " improved self-regulating tubular boiler." The size I have 

 cost me £16 10s. It is self-contained, requiring no brickwork, 

 and I find that it will hold a charge of 15 bushel of coke, and 

 that this will last twenty hours and heat from 700 to 900 feet of 

 4-inch pipe, though I am now only using the boiler for about 



